A look at Saturday's college basketball game between No. 5 Louisville and Georgetown in Washington, D.C. The Hoyas won 53-51, handing the Cardinals their third consecutive loss.

That last shot by Louisville wasn't much of one. It was launched in a hurry and would have needed to travel roughly 75 feet and find the target at such an ideal angle its extreme velocity would not have caused it to deflect wildly off the rim. It was not what a statistical analyst would have called, "high percentage."

The Cardinals came to this situation by choice rather than chance, which made the close of their loss at Georgetown one of the most curious endings on a day that seemed destined to be filled with them.

No. 5 Louisville trailed Georgetown by a point with 35 seconds left when it came out of a timeout and Russ Smith charged up from the baseline and behind a screen to fire a top-key jumper. He missed, but center Gorgui Dieng tied up Hoyas forward Otto Porter. The possession arrow was in Louisville's favor, presenting the Cardinals with another chance.

The Cards had no timeouts, but point guard Peyton Siva was close enough to the bench to get instructions from coach Rick Pitino. And Pitino told him to wait. A while.

Siva dribbled away precious seconds before, well inside the final 10 seconds, he at last got a high ball screen from Dieng and tried to drive the middle. His shot missed, and Porter held onto the rebound this time. He was fouled immediately and made 1-of-2 free throws to put Georgetown up a pair.

If all this had transpired 10 seconds earlier, Louisville would have had 10 seconds to set up a shot at a tying basket or winning 3-pointer. Because they chose to go all-or-nothing on what became the penultimate possession, the Cards left with nothing — except their third consecutive defeat, the team's first three-game losing streak since 2010.

Even former Michigan State All-American Draymond Green — whose last college game was a Sweet 16 loss to the Cardinals last season — was mystified

"If I'm coach Pitino, I'm going for the bucket earlier and depending on my defense to get a stop for the game," Green wrote on Twitter. "Wasted 27 precious seconds."